By the Same TMI Author

Stephen Kaye, editor and publisher, became intrigued with publishing when he heard the wheezing sounds of a flat-bed press and the clanking of the lino type machines while working on his weekly school paper towards the middle of the last century. Since then he worked on a college paper, studied and practiced law for a few decades, went into real estate, farming organic vegetables and grass-fed beef. After a few months of retirement he reverted to childhood fantasies and started The Millbrook Independent to replace the Millbrook Roundtable whose demise created a vacuum that needed filling.

Bartleby the American

The Donald puts together the wealthiest cabinet in American memory, possibly in history, on the evident principle that government of the billionaires, by the billionaires, for the billionaires shall not perish from this Earth…. Tomdispatch.com

by Stephen Kaye

Wed Dec 7th, 2016

In a piece written by John Feffer, “Bartleby the American, The case for non-cooperation with Trump,” the author examines the alternative of being a good American and trusting that better judgment by a few insiders will temper the worst aspects of the Trump administration, or, mounting a full scale opposition and fight hard starting right now.

The wind has been so knocked out of the liberal faction that it is in no fighting mood. However, Feffer thinks we had better get organized, because the onslaught is going to be horrific. He is entirely consumed by the great tragedy of the commons ---the atmospheric tragedy of carbon emissions and global warming. He sees turning the clock back to resuscitate coal as a fuel as throwing away the last life-line. Approving dubious pipeline projects, abandoning the Paris Accord and diminishing and perhaps abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency will put us over the edge.

We have been flirting with that edge as we try to do the impossible, that is, keep our carbon-based economy while feebly trying to change to a non-carbon based economy. Trump is unambiguous. He considers the environment a myth and global warming a lie. His henchmen include those who think going down with the ship will be heroic. They think nothing of dragging us down with them. He is willing to bet the planet that science has lied. Trump is not a great gambler. He doesn’t know the odds.

The problem is that the opposition has no organizing principle other than “never Trump.” Trump is going to be hard to fight because he is so devious and he holds all the tools of power. It might be a far better tactic to win over enough Republicans in Congress to join a moderating coalition. That will likely be he goal of the environmental lobby. That coalition needs forming now, before the January session.